Spring – So far, varsity players new to the Grand Oaks Grizzlies are well matched.
But on Saturday afternoon, it was back to some men from last season’s field semifinalist squad who had led the charge.
Senior Connor Kelly pitched well on the mound and junior Hudson Hamilton provided timely RBI-producing doubles as the Grizzlies beat Klein Oak 3–1 on the final day of the Farrell Classic.
“We have a lot of new parts that we’re excited about,” Grand Oaks coach Lou Ferrell later said. “But today, we had some stalwarts whose some important roles are doing good things today. It helped us a lot today. ,
Kelly, a Paris junior college commit, went 52/3 innings on the mound with seven strikeouts and allowed only one earned run for the Grand Oaks (7-2).
“Big man with big hair,” said Ferrell. “He looked good. It was a good day for him.”
Texas Longhorns committed Hamilton hit a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to open the game without score and added an RBI sacrificial fly later in the fifth inning.
A batter later, Sam Houston State signer Noah O’Farrell had the other RBI on an infield single for the Grizzlies who drilled Klein Oak pitcher Gage Eggleston into the leg and Larry Drake, another returner from the previous year, scored .
Pharrell thought Kelly looked really sharp, especially as the outing was underway. Senior buckled a Klein Oak batter off the inter-half curve ball to end the second innings. His five strikes came from the fourth innings.
“Connor Kelly had a really great day,” Farrell said. “He had great command of the zone and his stuff was working. It was nice there today. ,
With five matches and three days to go, managing the pitching staff can be a challenge. Ferrell, of course, was planning on using Kelly.
“We started our weekend off,” Farrell said. “We knew that Connor was going to either come into relief in a tight spot and help close one of the other games or we were going to start him one of these games. We knew it Will be one of the two. It stood well that he would start this game. He also looked good last weekend, so we were excited to start today.”
Klein joined the board in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by oak pinch hitter Kyle Berkovich.
Grand Oaks reliever Tyler Carnes played the final 11/3 with two strikeouts in the seventh. Carnes also got to base twice, starting in left field.
Drake, a Rice commit, was 2-for-3 with a double for the Grizzlies. Landon Meade did a double and walk. Jack Martinez walked twice.
This was the second of three tournament weeks for the Grand Oaks. The Grizzlies lost 2-1 at Galveston last week.
“The No. 1 thing is that we have to play in better weather this week,” Ferrell said. “To see the sun a little bit was that bonus. It’s been a great tournament over the years and you know you’re going to face some great competition in the meantime.
Grand Oaks beat Sam Houston and Kenny Creek on Friday. It beat Jersey Village on Friday and lost to Cypress Woods.
“There’s no game in this tournament that you can take down,” Ferrell said. “It is exactly like district (drama). It was good to see that we fought well. I wish we could get out of here with a clean sweep over the weekend. But we will take where we are and build on what we have today.”
The tournament marks its 19th year this season and is named after Lou’s father, the late Mike Farrell, who was a longtime Conroe Tigers baseball coach. While in Conroe, Lou played for his father.
Grand Oaks is back to host Duty this coming Thursday through Saturday. Four games will be played daily at the Grizzlies home ground with Klein Oak returning and Lake Creek between participants.
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